Sideline Company
by daily-chan
Summary: Estea is sad because she cannot join in the swimming games; Mushra’s willing to help her out. friendly Estea/Mushra.


Sideline Company

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shinzo or any of its characters. If I had I wouldn't have made it so difficult to find the episodes. But luckily for us there are some great AMV makers out there on youtube.

You know who you are when you read this.

**Paring:** Mushra/Estea friendship

**Rating:** Kids + to be safe.

**Warnings:** Result of to many headaches and to little sleep so be aware

The name of Kutal is in my country Gutal. I'm using his Dutch name for this simple reason that I'm used to this name.

Sorry if it confuses anyone.

Also I still don't know if it's Ray or Rei, but I'll use Ray in here. If I'm mistaken, just tell me and I'll change it.

This fic is unbeta´d. I checked it twice since my English still needs a lot of improvement but I couldn't find anything and it's checked with spell check as well.

**Summary**: Estea is sad because she cannot join in the swimming games; Mushra's willing to help her out.

**Dedicated to:**

Mushraluvr Windflame, ralisa. Three of the nicest people you can meet online.

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Silently she sat on the ground as she watched her brothers play in the water with Uncle Gutal, Sago, Yakumo and Binka.

Ray and San were laughing as Uncle Gutal threw them through the water and they landed a little further.

She was sad but she didn't want the others to know what was bothering her in fear of being laughed at. Especially in front of her older brothers she didn't want to go off and thus she stayed silently as she watched them, biting away silent tears that threatened to fall down her small face. She knew she couldn't swim and was actually a bit afraid of water as well.

Her brothers had both been taught how to swim by Uncle Gutal when they were still at home, but she had been to young then, and she never learned afterwards.

She felt sad because she could not join everyone in the water and play with the others.

She felt left behind now she had to watch instead of joining them and felt annoyed and yet at the same time sad as the others were having fun together without her.

After a while Uncle Gutal looked at her. "Aren't you coming in with us Estea?"

She shook her small head. "No, I don't want to swim." She said with a forceful voice and she was able to keep the sadness out of it for the others to hear.

Sago looked at her and opened his mouth to say something when Mushra suddenly called out to her.

She turned around to face the boy who was sitting in a tree as he had watched the swimmers as well.

"What is it Mushra?" She asked as she walked to the tree just when Mushra jumped down in one catlike maneuver and landed smoothly on the ground, making Estea laugh.

The blue-eyed enterran stuck his tongue out to her and she laughed harder.

Mushra smiled as well.

"I'm going to look for some firewood, you want to help me find some?" He asked as he winked to her and happily she nodded, forgetting about her sadness as she followed him into the forest.

They had already found a bunch of lose branches on the ground and had laid them on Mushra's hover board when Mushra spoke up.

"So, want to tell me why you are so sad?" He asked suddenly as he laid another branch on the hover board.

"I'm not sad." Estea said, as she looked up at the short, but still much longer then her, teenager.

Mushra looked at her. "Not now, but you were just now by the water."

Estea shook her head quickly, denying she had been sad. "I was just watching the others swim."

"Why didn't you join them?" Mushra asked as he placed another branch in the hover board.

Estea added a small branch as well, having trouble carrying it, before she answered.

"I didn't want to swim today."

"Hm." Mushra fell quiet and Estea sighed relieved, as he seemed to let it drop.

They collected more firewood till Mushra said they had enough and then they started to walk back to the camp when Mushra suddenly stopped walking.

Turning around Estea looked at him with a curious look.

"Something wrong Mushra?" She asked.

Mushra looked at the water. "You never swim with the others."

"So, you don't join them either."

"I have a good reason for that."

"What's that?"

Mushra smiled. "The water's to cold most of the times to stay in long."

Estea looked at him confused before she suddenly understood.

"Oh…"

"Yeah…I like swimming though. But…you never answered my question."

"Which question?" Estea asked, as she felt a little guilty for asking him why he never joined.

"Why you never join the others."

Estea looked down as she sighed, realizing he wouldn't let her get away without a straight

answer.

"Because I can't." She whispered after a long silence, which Mushra for once didn't break.

"You can't what?" He asked as he turned to look at her with his beautiful blue eyes and Estea felt she was blushing as she looked down again, knowing he would probably make fun of her now.

"I can't swim." She said a little louder, still looking down, as she had turned completely red from embracement now.

Mushra was silent for a moment before he smiled and Estea looked further down.

She knew he would start laughing now and then everyone would find out and her brothers wouldn't let her live it down.

"Then I'll teach you." The words made her look up with big surprised eyes as he was smiling at her. At her surprised look he looked at her confused.

"What?" He asked.

"You're not going to laugh and make fun of me?" She asked as she looked at him curiously.

Mushra blinked. "Why would I make fun of you?" He asked.

Estea looked down again. "Because I can't swim."

Mushra chuckled. "That's nothing to be ashamed off, especially on you're age."

"San and Ray wouldn't think so…" She trailed off slowly.

Mushra kneeled down on the ground and lifted her chin, forcing her to look up to him.

"And how would they find out if we don't tell them?" He asked, his voice surprisingly soft as she realized he was keeping his voice down so the others couldn't follow their conversation.

"If you're going to teach me how to swim they'll see." Estea said hopeless.

"Not if they are asleep when I teach you."

Again she looked up to him with big eyes. "Would you do that?" She asked surprised.

"Sure, why not. How does tonight sound? It looks like it will be a nice evening so the water shouldn't be to cold." He said as he trailed off, looking at the sky.

Estea knew that if Mushra got to cold he could die and she had almost experienced that happening once already and never wanted to see Mushra so weak again.

She nodded. "Tonight. But only if the water isn't cold."

Mushra smiled to her, as he probably knew her though pattern and gave her a ruffle over her head before he stood up again.

"Let's get back before the others go wondering what's taking us so long."

Estea nodded happily as she followed him as they walked back to the camp.

Mushra had been right and apparently they had been away for a long time as the others were already back in the camp and looked up as they came in.

"Where were you two?" Yakumo asked, worry clearly hearable in her voice.

"There wasn't much lose branches so we traveled a little further then planned."

Estea looked at Mushra, amazed how he came up with the lie so quickly.

Mushra shot her a smile as he moved the branches on a pile with Sago and quickly lit a flame. Soon it was nicely warm around them and Estea sat down next to Mushra as Gutal gave them food.

Uncle Gutal chuckled as she did and she surprised a blush. It was no secret she had a major crush on the fire enterran and always wanted to be close to him.

Mushra didn't seem to notice as he was talking with Yakumo as they laughed. Estea looked down, feeling slightly jealous of Yakumo for a moment before she shook her head because of her own silliness.

The fire burned nicely and it reminded Estea of Mushra. It seemed tame as she looked at it now, but when given the chance it would become wild and untamable.

Looking in the fire Estea started to feel drowsy, but no matter how hard she tried to keep her eyes open she still slowly fell asleep.

A warm hand on her shoulder woke her up and as she opened her eyes she looked straight into Mushra's blue eyes.

"Mushra?"

"Shh, everyone's asleep. Ready for you're lesson?" He asked with a smile as he put his finger in front of his lips.

"How's the water?" Estea asked whispering.

Mushra bit his lip to stop himself from laughing as he raised a thumb.

Estea smiled happily as she felt her heart jump up as Mushra quietly leaded her out of the camp.

They walked for a bit till they were on a good distance of the camp, but could still see it and Mushra undressed till his swimming clothes and Estea did the same, blushing like crazy.

Mushra felt the water before he let himself slide in.

"Okay, it's a little cold, but are you ready?" Mushra asked and Estea nodded, feeling slight fear come up in her.

Mushra raised his arms out to her as he stood in the water, that was till his chest and she let Mushra lift her into the water.

"Don't let go." She said, so afraid she forgot to be embarrassed.

Mushra smiled as he held her close to him.

"I won't. Just get used to the water first by floating in it." He said softly and Estea nodded as she trusted him not to let him go as she slowly let go of him and floated in the water, held in place by Mushra's strong but soft hands as she slowly focused on the feel of the water all around her.

It was colder then she had expected and she glanced at Mushra for a moment, but he seemed to be doing fine so she concentrated on the moving water.

Without realizing it, she mimicked Mushra's movements with his legs and Mushra smiled as he spoke up again after a while.

"I see you have the basics down already. You're a quick student."

Surprised Estea looked at her own tiny legs that were making the exact same movements as Mushra's were doing.

"Okay, now I'm going to hold you around you're waist and you have to move you're arms like this okay?" He asked as he showed Estea the movement while holding her close to him.

Estea nodded and Mushra let her float again and now she didn't hesitate to let go of him as she lied with her face in the water but Mushra told her to keep her face lifted up as much as she could and breath when she was above water, not below. Which actually made a lot of sense if she didn't want to drown in the water.

She followed Mushra's instructions and concentrated completely on it till Mushra told her to stop and laughed.

Surprised she pulled herself straight again on Mushra and looked up to him.

He only pointed behind them and confused Estea looked around to gasp in surprise as she realized the point they had began wasn't anywhere near anymore.

"Did I swim that?" She asked in awe as she looked up to Mushra.

Mushra nodded as he laughed. "Yeah you did. Now I'm going to move in front of you and you are going to swim to me on your own okay?"

"All alone?" Estea asked feeling a bit afraid again.

Mushra nodded. "I'm only a few centimeters away from you every time. Now keep yourself up like before." He said.

Estea nodded and did as she was told and Mushra nodded approving as he moved a tiny bit backwards.

"Now I want you to swim to me." He ordered and slowly Estea moved to him as she swam on her own.

Every time she touched Mushra he moved backwards a tiny bit without her noticing it and she kept swimming towards him with determination in her movements and her eyes.

When she began to get tired Mushra suddenly was within reach and she took a tight grip on him.

"Good work Estea." Mushra's bright voice told her and she looked up and blinked as she realized they were back where they had began.

"I swam all this way back?" She asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, and on your own as well, little swimmer."

Estea laughed as she hugged Mushra while tears ran down her already wet cheeks. "Thank you…thank you thank you thank you."

Mushra laughed. "Anytime." He said as he gave her a ruffle on her head.

"Now let's get back to the camp shall we?" He asked and Estea nodded as she pushed a little away from him, wanting to reach the side on her own.

Mushra stayed with her the whole time and she was panting as she pulled herself out of the water and lied down.

Mushra sneezed as he moved out of the water as well and Estea looked up worried but Mushra just smiled.

"Here is a towel." He said as he gave her the towel and took one himself as well as he quickly dried himself off and clothed again.

"How did you learn to swim?" She asked curiously while drying herself off.

Mushra was looking up to the sky but smiled at her question.

"Sago taught me when I was little."

"Sago did?"

"Yup."

"Oh…" Estea trailed off as she looked down, her eyes getting heavily. Estea felt then just how tired she was and could barely keep her eyes open as she dried herself off and put her clothes back on.

She didn't know how she made it back to the camp, Mushra had probably carried her there, but when she woke up she was lying covered in a blanket near Uncle Gutal after some wonderful dreams about swimming.

Sitting up she noticed everyone else was awake already but couldn't see Mushra anywhere.

"Hello sleepyhead. You must have been really tired to sleep so tight." Uncle Gutal said but Estea didn't listen to him as she stood up.

"Where's Mushra?" She asked worried and looked questionably around when Binka answered her.

"Sago pulled him out of the tree a little while ago. He's been sleeping as tight as you were, if we didn't know better I'd say you two went off tonight together."

Estea blinked as she turned red but shook her head.

"Binka!" She shouted with a head as a tomato and Uncle Gutal and Binka laughed.

"But where is he now then?" She asked as she looked around, still not seeing the familiar purple hair anywhere.

"He's doing something which you'd probably like as well."

"What's that?"

"Eating breakfast."

"Oh…yeah." Estea nodded enthusiastic as she ran with her uncle.

She spotted Mushra and Sago near the water as Mushra was leaning against a rock and looked well rested as he ate an apple.

"Hey Estea, had a good dreams?" He asked as he smiled.

"The best." She answered his smile as they ate in a comfortable silence.

After breakfast Ray and San came running to them.

"Uncle Gutal, are we going to swim today?" They asked.

Gutal looked at them and looked at the sky then.

"It's colder then yesterday but I think we can manage." He said and Ray and San cheered as they went to get the others as well.

Mushra was sitting by the water and had his eyes closed as he leaned against a rock. He didn't react when Ray and San tried to get him to join so they gave up quickly and went into the water with the others instead.

Estea joined them now; a bit shaking as she realized how cold the water was and a little nervous but quickly she realized she really did swim even though she was still slow.

She swam a bit around with Binka and Sago when she saw Mushra sitting at the side, fully dressed.

She realized the water was way too cold for the fire enterran and suddenly she felt foolish for feeling so annoyed yesterday that she had to watch.

Mushra couldn't join them most of the times and he didn't complain that he had to watch at all.

He had a small smile on his lips as he watched the others play and laughed when Sago showed him some tricks or attacked Uncle Gutal in a waterfight.

Making up her mind Estea swam to the side where the towels lied and got out as she wrapped a towel around herself and walked to where Mushra was.

"Nice swimming there." He complimented as she stood next to him and she blushed as she smiled to him.

"Thanks to you." She said softly and Mushra shook his head.

"I just leaded you, you did the hard work yourself."

When she kept standing next to him he looked up to her.

"Why are you staying out of the water?" He asked confused.

"You're watching them swim but can't join."

"So? I though you wanted to learn how to swim so you could join in their games."

Mushra was looked at her as he spoke and confusion was clearly written on his face.

"I did. But I realized there are sometimes more important things then joining into games."

"Such as?" Mushra asked with a bemused smile.

"Well…keeping someone who has to watch company and watch the others play together."

She was blushing as she spoke and Mushra laughed.

"That sounds pretty good. Seeing as the company is very nice." He said with a smile as he shifted a bit to make room for Estea to sit down next to him and together they watched the others play in the water, both a smile on their lips now.

The end

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Okay, I was actually asked to write more of these kind of fics so I decided to give it a try.

I'm experiencing a major writers block at the moment due to several circumstances so don't expect anything good from me for a while. Sorry about that.

Well, I hope you liked it :P

I got the idea after watching episode 7 into the jungle where the kittens first come in and her brothers pulled Estea out of the water.

My mind went on overdrive then and this came out.

I'm aware that Mushra's probably a little bit to nice and sweet to Estea, but it's a fact he likes Estea the most of the three kittens and he always treated her better as well.

Reviews are always loved and appreciated. And highly needed to form new idea's.


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